What a real life economic collapse looks like I ran across this while in my internet travels. Pretty interesting read. Good site, worth checking out
Did you ever think about what your life would be like if the stores were closed? I’m not talking about a post-apocalyptic Mad Max scenario or a winter storm that clears the shelves. I’m talking about a long-term...

A vertical garden from a 50 gallon drum This set up will let you grow 50 plants in an areas 2ft x 2ft. These barrels are easy to find. Craigslist is generally filled with them. You would prefer food graid and you want to make sure this wasn't carrying anything toxic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufEQ6ZljJBE&x-yt-cl
http://www.half-pinthomestead.com/GardenBarrels.html

Build-a-bag for your car (or for a Christmas present)... As the holiday seasons are upon us and you're probably going to be doing a lot of running around shopping. It's a good idea (if you don't already have one) to put together a little contingency bag for the vehicle. Shopping crowds are ridiculous in some places. Those crowds can cause just as much chaos as a severe weather...

Raised Bed Gardens
Introduction
So you want a vegetable garden, but don't have a large area to till up for the project? Your “soil” is hard as rock? A good way to compensate for such lack of space and rocky soil is by gardening in raised beds. Doing so helps you overcome problems with our less-than-perfect soil.
A raised bed for vegetables...

Lowering your Heat Bill This Winter
Replace old and worn weatherstrip in doors to reduce heat loss and drafts
2. Seal baseboards and caulk windows. This is especially an issue with older homes with wood floors. Cold air can come right up through the baseboards or the windows. Caulk is fairly cheap and this fix will save you BIG.
3....

This set up will let you grow 50 plants in an areas 2ft x 2ft. These barrels are easy to find. Craigslist is generally filled with them. You would prefer food graid and you want to make sure this wasn’t carrying anything toxic

Introduction

So you want a vegetable garden, but don’t have a large area to till up for the project? Your “soil” is hard as rock? A good way to compensate for such lack of space and rocky soil is by gardening in raised beds. Doing so helps you overcome problems with our less-than-perfect soil.
A raised bed for vegetables can be as simple as raking the soil into flat-topped mounds (berms) several inches higher than paths. Or, for deeper beds, you can box soil with landscape timbers (raised bed).
Raised beds, especially in Miami-Dade County, offer a number of distinct advantages, particularly for growing vegetables:
¾ Digging is not needed.
¾ Helps plants grow better. For root crops such as sweet potato, carrots or malanga, it is much easier to provide needed space for the edible plant parts to grow.
¾ Replenishing soil is easy to do.
This helps to overcome the build up of disease or nematodes. Depleted soil can be quickly removed from a raised bed and replaced.
¾ Ease of cultivation, especially for those with limited mobility.
¾ Lessens the risk of plants becoming water logged, particularly in areas
with poor drainage. This limits the chance of root rot diseases.
¾ Reduces soil compaction and prevents damage to soil and plants from foot traffic.
¾ Saves resources; fertilizer is applied only in the beds, not broadcast
over the entire garden area.
¾ By using peat-based and organically enriched soils, the pH is in the “ideal” range for most plants.

There may be a few disadvantages to using raised beds, the major one being cost if the bed walls are to be durable.
One other consideration is that additional irrigation may be needed. For this reason it is advisable to install some type of drip irrigation system to efficiently water your plants.Continue Reading

We encourage everyone worldwide to prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and
water and some money in savings.
We ask that you be wise as you store food and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not
prudent, for example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With careful planning, you can,
over time, establish a home storage supply and a financial reserve.”
“Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra
items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is
sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.”Continue Reading

The home production and storage program is an integral part of welfare services but is undertaken individually, according to the needs of each member or family. It’s application, therefore, differs in relation to circumstances, but

Got food?

the responsibility of preparedness remains solely upon the individual family. The vast majority of commodities in the Bishop’s Storehouse system of the Church must be found, as the Brethren have counseled, within the home and basements of individual families. Refer to Church publication “Essentials of Home Production and Storage” (PGWE 1125) for guidance in planning your home
storage.
The following basic items are recommended for storage. Indicated is the approximate amount of each needed to sustain an average adult for one year:Continue Reading

Drying or dehydration, the oldest method of food preservation, is particularly successful in the hot, dry climates found in much of New Mexico. Quite simply, drying reduces moisture necessary for bacterial growth that eventually causes
deterioration. Successful dehydration depends upon a slow steady heat supply to assure that food is dried from the inside to the outside. Drying is also an inexact art. Size of pieces, relative moisture, and the method selected all affect the time required to dehydrate a food adequately.

Methods of Drying
Foods may be sun dried with or without a solar dehydrator, in a gas or electric oven, or with a portable electric dehydrator. Dehydrators with thermostats provide better control over poor weather conditions and food quality than sun drying.
An effective solar dehydrator is the shelf above the back seat of a car. Clotheslines are another popular drying rack for ears of corn and strips of jerky. Colorful red chile ristras hung from vigas are practical as well as decorative.

Alphabetized Guide to Natural Cleaning Recipes
There are many products in your refrigerator and pantry that can double as natural cleaning products. Here is an alphabetized list of items and what they can clean

All types of shredded paper are great for the compost pile, as are a number of other kitchen items which you may not have considered. Check out this list of common household items that will give your compost pile a kick…and save space in the landfill at the same time:

I like granola bars. A good homemade granola bar can be very filling, easy to pack and you can pretty much make them with anything you want. Good for backpacking food or the school lunchbox. Here are a couple decent recipes for granola bars.

I believe in the saying ‘practice makes perfect’ While looking through this site, I came across this article and was inspired to likewise put together a list of quick and easy projects that can be done in a weekend. Here are projects you can do around the house to get yourself acclimated to using these tools, see what they will and won’t do and how they can help you. Most of these would be pretty good for kids projects too